Chelsea started well before being blasted off the field in the second half. Some of the takes from fans, on matchday one, show the division is not far away.
The 4-0 loss to Manchester United was a frustrating way to start the season. For vast swaths of the game, Chelsea was the better side. But those vast swaths matter little when naivety and simple mistakes undo them. The score line flattered United, but a loss was not necessarily unjust.
There are ways to view a game like that realistically and there are ways to view it as a sign of the end times. This is not a conversation for those that understand that that sweeping declarations of success or failure are not absolutes after one game. This is a conversation for the kids and the chicken littles. But perhaps most of all, this is a conversation for those who woke up in utter glee at seeing the team they allegedly support lose.
First of all, Chelsea lost away to Manchester United. Now this is not Sir Alex Ferguson’s United by any stretch of the imagination, but pretending that they are some completely faded force is incorrect. Since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over, United gained the third most points in the Premier League. They are tough and that should not be ignored.
But it also should not be ignored that Chelsea did very well for much of the match. The Blues were aggressive and had a few moments gone the other way, everyone is talking about a much different game.
That is not to say that there were not moments of naivety on the part of Frank Lampard or his team. This was a match where both sides were relentlessly pressing and looking for the fast attack. United gained the advantage by backing off Chelsea. They became more and more compact which invited Chelsea on to them. The defensive line pushed up, more than they were comfortable, and suddenly United’s counters became much more efficient.
Perhaps Lampard was buoyed by the first half and how strong Chelsea looked. A goal behind, he urged his team on when he should have reeled them in and caught United in the trap. But Solskjaer saw it first, no doubt because he saw similar things happen to his side last season.
It is, however, hard to believe that the backline was instructed to be that disorganized. Several times during the match, it was hard to keep track of where Kurt Zouma or Andreas Christensen were. Perhaps Lampard failed to properly articulate what he wanted and that is on him. But the defenders have to be smarter than what they showed.
There is also a rallying cry of “see that is what playing the youth gets you”. Even Jose Mourinho seemed to slip into that. But it was not the youth that let Chelsea down, it was the senior players. Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham were fine. Cesar Azpilicueta, Kurt Zouma, Pedro, and Ross Barkley? Not so much. Chelsea did not win or lose that match because of playing the kids and it has become a weird trend to completely ignore or dismiss any of the good the kids do. Those FIFA managers would rather talk about signing the next shiny toy before considering their own (while also lamenting that Chelsea cannot play great young players like their rivals).
Something Lampard cannot and should not be blamed for is not playing N’Golo Kante. Kante only just returned to fitness and given that his last injury came when a manager rushed him back too soon, it is right for Lampard and Chelsea to be cautious. This is matchday one and there is no need to risk the sides best player when the players on the field had previously shown themselves capable in preseason.
It being matchday one should also weigh heavily on the minds of many. There are a few reasons why fans can still applaud Lampard after such a terrible loss but blast Maurizio Sarri for the same score line. Lampard lost 4-0 on match day one, away to Manchester United, with his side still looking capable and with the manager himself knowing things went wrong on his end. Sarri lost 4-0 over halfway through the season to Bournemouth with his tactics exposed and he blamed motivation.
“Patience”, or the lack there of, has been a big word for many. But it is one thing to lose patience in January where the same mistakes are left unanswered and another to lose patience on the first day of the season when there has not even been a chance to answer the question. But there are so many clinging to the promises that Sarri never delivered on that they take absolute glee in watching Chelsea lose. They would rather stick by a manager who quit Chelsea than a legend of the club.
No, the sky is not falling because Chelsea lost to Manchester United on day one. Lampard and the players know they made mistakes and they will look to fix them. Call the performance whatever you like, but do not act as though the result will be repeated each week of the season.
As for those taking glee in the loss, this is Chelsea Football Club. Lampard is a legend and yes he made mistakes in that match. But it is better to make mistakes on match day one than late in winter. Sarri quit, and if Lampard’s failure brings more glee than Lampard’s success because of Sarri quitting, then there is a club for that and it is not Chelsea.
For those that are able to step back and look at that game for what it is, congratulations. Continue to do that. Match day one is match day one. No one has won the title, no one has been relegated. 37 match days to go and one out of 38 is not a sample size, it is a blip.